1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a machine, and in particular to a crust bending apparatus.
2. The Related Arts
An electrical connector plays a role of fast interfacing and is widely used in electronic products. Various electrical connectors comprise an insulation plastic housing that partly enclose conductive terminal pieces with the terminal pieces embedded therein for secured retention. Often, a portion of each of the terminal pieces that is not to be enclosed by the plastic of the housing is clamped by a mold and then molten plastic is filled into the mold. An integrated electrical connector can thus be formed after the molten plastic solidifies. An electrical connector of this kind comprises an insulation housing and a set of terminal pieces received and fixed in the housing. The terminal set may include signal terminals that are received in the insulation housing and at least one pair of switching terminals. The insulation housing of the electrical connector is often enclosed by a metal crust. The metal crush provides protection and structural reinforcement to the outside of the insulation housing. The metal crust often comprises a resilient holding portion, which provides a resilient abutment for securely holding an external plug, so that the plug can be securely coupled to the connector without undesired or unexpected separation.
Conventionally, the metal crust is applied to the insulation housing of an electrical connector with a jig. Due to the progress of technology, various miniaturized electrical connectors are available now. The application of the metal crust to the insulation housings of such miniaturized connectors is still carried out with human hands. A metal plate is first bent by hands and then the bent plate is set to enclose the insulation housing. Since the size of the housing of a miniaturized connector is tiny, bending and enclosing a metal crust around the housing is extremely difficult. This leads to an increase of the number of operation stations in an assembling line and also an additional period of time for the assembling. Further, the percentage of flaw products made in this way is also high and the operation efficiency is low. Thus, it is desired to have a crust bending apparatus that is operated with power cylinder based mechanisms to replace human labor in bending a metal crust in order to reduce undesired influence of human factor and also to realize stable assembling operation and improve product passing rate and throughput.